//------------------------------//
// Chapter 27: Reuniting the Restless 
// Story: Time to go 
// by MasterHunter55 
//------------------------------//


Time To Go


Chapter 27


Reuniting the Restless


That night was one of unrest for all parties. Fluttershy didn't sleep, watching closely over her friend the whole night. Twilight went to bed early after gaining some control over herself. The purple mare slept uneasily however, and nightmares would wake her every few hours. Fluttershy would go to comfort her consoling her in her unrest. Applejack had a hard time getting over her anger at Hunter, and she was tempted to leave the house to show him a piece of her mind. Applejack would get out of bed and stomp out of her house to feel the cool wind blowing over the treetops of her glorious orchard. Applejack's temper would blow away in the breeze and after a few moments of gazing up at the stars; she would eventually go back to wrestling with her pillow as she tried to sleep. The farmer completed this cycle five times before she decided she was too exhausted to do any proper scolding and she finally got to sleep. Pinkie's nose hurt too much to sleep on the pillow any other way than looking straight up. It was an unfamiliar pose, an uncomfortable one, and so it took a while for her to get to sleep. Rarity took a long bath to calm herself, filling the bath with bubbles and distracting herself with washing her hair. After getting out and drying off she sat in her inspiration room staring at the green suit she had made and debated tearing it up from frustration. After almost an hour of hovering sewing scissors over the suit with her magic, she put the tool back and went to bed.

Rainbow Dash didn't sleep for more than an hour before she was awoken by nightmares, dark dreams of death and betrayal, images that flew by as quickly as she did and yet she could easily recognize what happened in each one of them; feeling terrible loss towards each one. Eventually her heart hurt so much it woke her up. Dash jumped out of bed, out of her room, up her staircase and into the sky before she knew for she that she was awake. Rainbow was high into the night sky before she realized that she was crying. Then once she realized she was higher than any cloud liked to be she stopped flying higher, huffing and puffing as she flapped her wings to keep herself aloft. The flier’s adrenaline quickly faded and the blood rushed to her head. Stars filled Dash's vision and she felt dizzy, the pegasi quickly lowered herself onto a cloud and allowed the feeling to pass. Her physical dizziness passed after a few seconds, only to be replaced by an emotional one. This past week had been a roller coaster, this alicorn had come in to her life out of nowhere, fallen in love with her, gotten her to become infatuated with him, and then gone and switched his personality from amazing to absolutely dreadful. This boy had broken her heart out of its cage without detection and then crushed it at the prison gates. She should have been more careful, she should have taken it slower, she should have been cautious. This is why her mother had always told her to watch out for boys that were too nice, but she didn't think it would've mattered at this point. Silly her for believing that she was an exception.

As Dash brooded over her stupid decisions a sudden bright light appeared in her peripheral vision. Rainbow thought she was imagining things when it flashed a few more times. Sudden overpowering curiosity took hold, a welcome reprieve from the constant battle of emotions going on inside her head. Turning to look she saw more flashes in the sky, explosions of bright green light that left an aftereffect in her vision long after they disappeared. Some hit clouds, small puffs of vapor disbanding as they violently exploded, others went off without provocation, filling the night air with brilliant light without any other purpose than to be seen. Upon closer inspection Rainbow could see the part of the sky that these great balls of fire were coming from, half expecting a dragon. Peering closely and attempting to remove the after image of the green light from her eyes by rubbing them quickly, Dash could see a speck of gray that looked like Hunter, and assuming it was, the green energy made a lot of sense; but why use it like this? The pegasus was surely using a large amount of energy for what looked to be no reason. Unless of course he was getting an early shot in for cloud busting the next day. In which case he was being counterproductive anyhow seeing as it was scheduled to rain tomorrow. Or today, Dash couldn't remember how late or early it was, she had been too preoccupied getting herself out of the house.

All she could think was how beautiful his show of anger was.

Now that she knew who she was dealing with, what was her next course of action? Should she approach him? Would she be reprimanded, or worse, attacked?  Rainbow watched as Hunter continued his onslaught of the sky, destroying nothing but vapors. Hunter felt as if that was what he was running on, he hadn't felt like eating much that evening, and expending this much energy was going to have repercussions. Soon enough, his hunger got to him and Hunter flew to the nearest intact cloud and rested on it.

As soon as the blasts stopped, signaled by a few short moments of silence and a return to darkness Rainbow decided that it was probably safe to approach now, but was unsure of whether she should or not. Leaving someone to brood might be the best short term solution, but in the long term there were going to be some problems. Dash decided, with butterflies in her stomach and a dizzy spell in her head, that she should probably go and talk with him.

This was with extreme caution of course.

Hunter saw her approaching, he had known she was in the sky the whole while he was up there. She had burst out of her house just after he had, but he hadn't really had a reason to care that she was out in the sky like he was until now, now that she was approaching. What did she want to talk about this time?

She flew closer and closer, but slowing as she closed the gap. This made it impossible to gauge how long exactly it would be until she finally reached him. Then out of nowhere Dash stopped completely, almost seeming to move backwards. She looked around quickly trying to find some kind of excuse as to why she had stopped that wasn't nerves, and saw a small drifting cloud and planted herself upon it, drifting slowly again to where Hunter was resting. The rainbow clad pegasus could now hear the steady heavy breaths Hunter released and wanted to stop again, but found herself continuing onward. Her wings had stopped already, but the momentum of the cloud now carried her forward, almost against her will.

Then her cloud hit his and combined to make a bigger cloud, and Dash was now laying side by side with Hunter.

Hunter gave no sign that he had noticed, and Dash continued to worry. Hunter was laying on his side, head up facing forward with his eyes closed, and his legs on his right out in front of him, folded neatly, the rights over the lefts. Dash was hanging slightly off of the right side of her cloud, having slid to avoid contact, she readjusted herself now, laying her back feet to her right as Hunter's were and her front feet out in front of her, supporting her upper body as she looked on at Hunter. He just kept his eyes closed, ignoring her presence or completely oblivious to her being there. Dash noticed that his breathing had become a lot less heavy and he was sweating lightly from the edges of his mane, and that one of his front hooves was sitting lonely at his right side as he moved his left one to support his head.

Hunter wondered if and when she was going to start some kind of conversation, because he had nothing to say. He had already gone through five or so introductions to a conversation and none of them ended happy. Then Dash did something he hadn't expected.

Rainbow Dash put her hoof on his, and left it at that.

Hunter did not react externally, but on the inside he felt a strange sense of relief. After a few moments Hunter opened his eyes to see Dash smiling beside him with her own eyes shut. Hunter grinned and closed his eyes again. The pair sat together in this manner long into the night, slowly nodding off until they rested quietly in each others embrace.


><><


This very night Princess Luna watched over Ponyville from very high up in the sky indeed. Sitting comfortably upon a cloud higher than most pegasi would climb without real reason. As she watched she waited, silently waiting for signs that Hunter had finally drifted off to slumber. Luna had heard stories about Hunter's fighting and his stopping a flood once using some kind of energy blast. Twilight had written about these with very vivid details, and Luna had read them over and over. The princess hadn't felt like she had truly grasped the full extent to this power that the gray pegasus possessed, but the show that she had received on this night was beyond everything she could have imagined, and a spark of excitement started a fire in her mind. As soon as she could see that Hunter and Twilight's friend Rainbow Dash, the one she remembered had been dressed as a shadowbolt (something she found interesting considering that the shadowbolts were a creation of nightmare moon) for that night's nightmare night celebration. It was an odd sight seeing such a display of raw power, shooting and exploding into the sky with a violent beauty that made her think of armies at war, and then watching as the two ponies settled in on a cloud to sleep. Now they were sleeping peaceably. It was as if a war had been fought and won within an hour. It would have been worth the trip over if only to see this alone, but this was not why she had come. Luna was here for  more than just a show, which was unexpected to say the least, she was here to get into Hunter's head, because while she could learn some about him through interaction, there was no better way to learn about someone, than to enter their dreams. Enter their dreams.

So Luna set her head down on the cloud, and slept herself.

As soon as she was asleep, Luna found herself in a bed. She brought her head slowly up off of the pillow and removed the silk blankets laying over her. The princess got herself out of the bed, finding her hair to be in perfect condition. The bed was in a small, yet elegant room, the walls a deep blue and the bed covered in black blankets and the sheets beneath were the color of the walls. Streamers of blue came down from the ceiling and were draped over the head and end of the bed. Black lights lit the room from either side of the bed, and made the blue carpet glow slightly. The bed sat in the twelve o'clock position of the circular room. There was no other furniture in the room. The only other thing of note in the small room was the door set in the wall at the six o'clock position. Luna immediately went and opened the door, a simple black wooden door that opened out and swung easily, making no noise on its hinges. The door opened to a simple room, with a dim yellow light in the center of the roof. This room was only slightly larger than the circular bedroom, which was maybe 10 feet in diameter, and this room was square. The door Luna went through was on one side, and as she stepped through, closing it behind her, the only notable things in the room was the door on the other side, a sign above it, a lever to her right, and a small contraption on her left. Luna glanced at the lever to her right, it was a short thing, it's base set centered between the opposing walls. The blue alicorn then looked over at the contraption on her left, a thing of metal, a box sticking out of the floor at the same position as the lever but mirrored on the other side of the room. It was 4 feet tall and had a sloped surface, looking exactly like a podium. Luna walked to the side of this that one would stand on if they were speaking from it. Built into the surface was a square viewer, a small orb set halfway into the surface beside the screen controlled the interface on the screen. Displayed on the screen was a map of the entire land of Equestria. Luna used the orb and hovered a small dot over the city of Ponyville, after a second the map zoomed in and the surrounding landscape showed instead, every tree blowing in the breeze, and every piece of grass visible in realistic definition. It was as if she were looking through a window from above, or flying over the land herself. As the orb spun silently in its socket the landscape moved speedily by, and when the orb stopped so did the view of the landscape.

If a human had seen it they would have thought they were playing a video game.

Luna eventually found herself looking at Hunter and Dash's houses from the sky. Rolling the ball towards herself, the screen moved up revealing the cloud that she slept on.

“Ha, never had that happen before. I look so small from here.” Luna laughed to herself.

Moving the landscape to the left a bit it wasn't hard to spot Rainbow Dash's tail and mane sticking out among the green of the forest and grass beneath it. Luna moved the small dot over the cloud holding the pair in the sky. The screen zoomed, and a dim red highlighted the pair. Luna pressed on the orb and the screen put a small text tag over each of the ponies. On bar said “Rainbow Dash” and the other said “UNKNOWN”

Luna scrunched her muzzle in confusion. “That's never happened before either.” Then again, Luna had never really attempted using this device on a human made pony. Usually if she ended up in one of their dreams it was because she had entered them at random, it was not often that Luna used this device to selectively decide which Pony she checked up on, and last time she had entered Hunter's dream it was through magic transfer from Sarah's dream because she had known where she was going and it would have been inconvenient to return here. What was most confusing was that this machine was entirely a creation of her subconscious; Wouldn't it show his name just because she knew it? Putting aside this mystery, Luna selected “Unknown” and it centered on the screen. Luna left the podium and pulled the lever on the opposite side of the room. Above the door Luna had not yet opened a small framed sign board flipped over, revealing the word “UNKNOWN”. The princess walked up to the door, opened it up and stepped through without a second thought.

Luna stepped onto a cloud, high up in the sky and closed the door behind her. As soon as the door clicked behind her, it disappeared, nothing but a frame before becoming nothing altogether. Not two seconds went by before Hunter and Rainbow Dash sped past her face, zooming by at great speed apparently locked in yet another race. This also was not why Luna was here. Looking below her she made sure the ground was normal enough, and let herself fall to the ground, flapping her wings for a smooth landing. Luna walked over to a nearby tree and pressed gently on the trunk, using a spell on it as she did so. A small section of the tree trunk sunk into the tree slightly, and then moved aside like a hidden panel, revealing some buttons and more screens.

This was what she was here for. After pressing a few buttons a short plastic stick with a needle at the end of it shot quickly out from the panel, presenting itself for use and being held by the interface. Luna took the needle and stuck it unceremoniously into her foreleg. Luna had devised this method to remove her fear of needles, and it had worked, but she had grown so use to the procedure that she had no idea what she should change it to. So she continued to use needles. The images of this dream blurred and shifted and Luna found herself in yet another location, with everything looking much too real, and drained of color. She saw Hunter back in his human form, walking down a street and turning into the parking lot of a large regal building.

“Alright, now I need to go back further, this is just before he arrived.” Luna said to herself, looking at her right fore hoof. Luna's horn glowed and the world started working backwards, Hunter went back down the street the opposite direction, but walking backwards, birds flew the wrong way while facing the wrong way, and leaves went back to hanging from their trees. Luna's spell grew brighter and the world went faster, the sun rose and set, and the moon chased after it. Luna let this happen ten times before ending her spell, and cast a different one instead. Luna teleported to another strange location inside a building. Everything made you think of the color brown, but it was homely. Hunter was standing it what looked like a kitchen with another human, larger in size than he was. Luna watched and listened to the conversation with no context. The humans could not see nor hear her as she was revisiting Hunter's past.

“What is that hanging on your wall Hunter?” The bigger human asked.

“Oh above the pictures?” Hunter asked.

“Yes.”

“That could be the doorbell, but I think it's just a smoked out deck detector...” Hunter said.

After a second, Hunter and the other human realized what he had said and broke into gales of laughter.

“I mean a decked out smoke detector!” Hunter said through his laughing.

“Beep beep!” The other human said, “I found the deck, it's right out back.”

This provoked the two into more silly giggles, but Luna had a hard time finding what was so funny. The laughter died down and the two only chuckled every few seconds.

“That thing used to go off all the time, but now its a little smoked out.” Hunter said.

Once more, the humans were laughing.

“Oh get on with it will you.” Luna said, rolling her eyes.

After some more inside jokes and a couple of stretched puns, the two retreated downstairs into the basement.

After settling on the couch, the humans grabbed a few pieces of technology foreign to Luna and Hunter told the other human that they should play some Halo.

“I was hoping we could play Portal though.” the other human said, sitting in front of a large viewer and opening up a technological box.

“Oh, then put that in instead.” Hunter said simply.

“Are you sure?” The other human asked.

“Yes, Andrew, you can even play the single player campaign if you like, I don't mind.” Hunter said, putting his (Luna guessed) remote control to the side and allowed this 'Andrew' to place a thin disc into the box and sit back on the couch, grabbing the controller that Hunter had held.

Luna hoped that Andrew was close to Hunter, and so she decided to test the theory, see just how close these two were. Luna cast a spell and Andrew glowed a dim red for a second. Luna then cast another spell and time moved forward again, this time whenever and wherever Andrew moved, she would move closely behind, although she stood still. Luna was watching closely for the first few seconds of the travel, but eventually Andrew would get into a self moving carriage and would move so quickly that it was dizzying. Luna closed her eyes and tried to gauge when ten moons had passed. Luna opened her eyes and found the human at home, so she stopped the spell and movement returned to normal.

Andrew did not look very good. The human had not removed his facial fur, as was the apparent norm, in a long time and he looked shaggy, his hair was messy and long, he hadn't had his mane cut in a while. Andrew was staring at a small viewer, pressing a clicker on his right every few seconds. Then a female that Luna assumed was Andrew's mother walked in.

“Andrew honey, you should shave and we need to get you a haircut scheduled, you have that award ceremony scheduled for that FFA competition you were talking about, and you wouldn't want to receive your award looking like a mess.” The female said, going over to his desk and putting a hand on his shoulder gently.

Andrew looked up from the screen and looked kindly at his mother, “Are you sure you want me to go to that? I don't want to leave you here alone without anyone to take care of you.”

“Of course I want you to go,” The mother said, “I'll be alright for a couple of days, and I have the boys here to take care of me. Besides, even if I was on my deathbed, I would want you to go get you the rewards you deserve.”

“If you were on your deathbed, there's no way I would leave for some silly rewards.” Andrew said, and Luna felt as if he believed his mother was close to that point already. Now that Luna looked closer, the female did seem a sick, for a human. Luna could be wrong, she wasn't entirely familiar with humans, but Andrew's mother didn't exactly look like she was in her prime.

“Well I'm not, so you should go.” The mother said, “Now get shaved and then we'll go get you a haircut, we have to go buy groceries today anyways.”

“Alright mom, if you're sure. I'm still skeptical.” Nevertheless, Andrew got up from the desk and left the room, presumably to shave.

“Have you heard anything about Hunter at all?” Andrew's mother asked as he walked by.

Andrew stopped suddenly in the archway leading to a hallway. “No they haven't informed me of anything. He's just gone I guess. Nothing to be done.” With this he went silently into the hallway and his mother let out an understanding sigh.

“Awful.” His mother whispered, and left the room.

Luna sped time forward a little to get past all the 'cleaning up' and found herself with Andrew in front of a bus. Andrew gave his mother a hug, looking sharp and clean, and they said their goodbyes. Andrew stepped onto the bus, and Luna tagged along. Then she waited, watching Andrew. Luna would tag along, watching Andrew for the next few months. She did this with all humans that she considered transporting, and she needed this one. Within the next few months, she learned much through Andrew's eyes, and from Andrew's perspective, the story was this:

It was time for the awards ceremony and so he sped along with his friends in a zippy little bus. He was 17 going on 18, and had soft, wavy hair. He was part of the taller group of kids his age, and had soft hazel eyes that reflected his emotions quite vividly. The boy had been part of FFA for two years now, and this was his second time coming to Idaho's FFA State Convention, except unlike last time, he had been preparing in anticipation for this day for an entire year. Hours upon countless hours stripping down and rebuilding from the ground up a model 19022 Briggs and Stratton engine, learning everything there was to know about it to finally show that he was superior in troubleshooting such a device.

"I know I did great this time!" he excitedly said to his Agricultural Instructor, Mr. Godfrey. "I was able to find out what the problem was in half the time of the other opponents! The intake valve seat needed to be sanded down, and it had a bad cylinder gasket like last year!" the boy happily said "...And it's all thanks to you, Mr. Godfrey. Thank you.. So much.. You have been like a father to me, and I really couldn't ask for anything more." He then proceeded to give his instructor a big hug before reaching their destination. "We're here!" said the other instructor, who had been driving. The boy waited until all of the other rowdy students piled off of the bus and then followed behind.

The day had been relentlessly hot, above the 90's, and the boy's navy blue FFA jacket and black pants were not helping the cause. Finally after a short walk, the students of Burley Idaho's FFA Chapter entered into the Recreation Center of Boise State University. They reached the Ballroom where fold-up chairs had been placed for the 700+ other students from various other counties in Idaho had all come to meet to see who was the best of the best for each Career Development Event that Idaho's FFA committee had planned for the past week. The boy had entered into a couple events. Two of the lesser were PVC pipe and Agronomy. His two crown jewel CDE's that he took part in were Ag Electricity, and Ag mechanics.

Everyone was seated, and the ballroom's lights were dimmed down low, after which a spotlight shined on the front podium, where the President of Idaho's FFA Chapter would go through the FFA motto and creed, and then proceed to announce the awards. The boy stood up along with everyone else in the room and said the motto and the creed with the most enthusiasm that he had ever had. He finally felt like he ad a part in FFA. After everyone was seated, the President started through the awards. The boy knew that his events would be near the end, so he took this time to bend over in his chair and go over his life for the past few years temporarily...

"Wow," he thought to himself, "I really have come a long way since moving here over three years ago." And he was right. The boy had spent those last three years in Hell. His family had moved to Burley Idaho due to the untimely arrest of his father, and his mother didn't have enough strength to support paying for their home in Clearfield Utah. They were in terrible shock at that time, his father, Joel, was imprisoned because his grandma on his mother's side had framed the boy's father for sexually abusing the boy's aunt. Evidence was pulled out of the blue, and his father was incarcerated. The boy, his two young brothers, and his mother were totally abandoned by the boy's grandparents. All hope had seemed to vanish, but as they were frantically trying to find out where they would move to, the father's cellphone, which had become their home phone, rang. The boy's mother picked it up. It was Brian, Joel's brother!

"Words cannot describe the amount of sorrow that I have for you and your family," Brian humbly told the mother, "Have you figured out where you guys will live?" The boys mother exploded into tears.. The fact was, she DIDN'T know where she was going to move to. the situation had still put the family in shock. "In that case," Brian said, "I have my old house in Burley that my family just recently moved out of and it's still under my name.. I can take care of all of the utility bills, as long as you can pay for whatever extra you may want. Are you interested?" Again, the boys mother burst into tears... They finally had a new place to call... home.

The next few months were a huge boxing frenzy, trying to cram everything they could into the Lowe's moving boxes that they had bought. Finally, the day came when The boy's uncle, Brian, along with another uncle, Spencer, brought a massive U-Haul truck and parked it backwards onto the driveway of their home.

They spent the entire day cramming everything they could onto the truck; all the way up to the brim...

And so the journey began.

The boy, his mother, and his two brothers hopped into their tiny Volkswagen beetle, and said one final goodbye to their home that they would never again explore...

They were going to become Idahoans.

Months passed, and their new home had finally been unpacked, but things continued to spiral downward. This time, it had to deal with the boy's mother who was gravely ill. She worked to have her thyroid, and it's seven inch-long tumors, removed a while back, and she had been taking medicine for it.. But it had been the wrong kind.. Finally there was a day when the boy had had enough of this madness. He gathered the power to will his mother into the doctor and give him a piece of him mind.

"My mother is DYING, Dr. Anderson! You NEED to do tests on her and bump up her thyroid medicine!" the boy yelled, full of anxiety, "She never gets out of bed anymore, and even SHE feels like she's losing the grip of her life!"

The doctor tried to interject, "Maybe she's just really depress.." But was cut off by the now frightened boy, "SHE is NOT DEPRESSED, DR. ANTHONY ANDERSON. SHE. IS. DYING. D-Y-I-N-G. DY-ING. And you are going to do something, RIGHT. NOW. Or I am going berserk, DO YOU HEAR?!"

The doctor saw the boys point, and blood-work was done, and boy was the doctor baffled.

The boy's mother received a call from the doctor, who had a shade of terror to his voice. "Mrs. Tibbets," The doctor started, "you were right. Your body's TSH (thyroid hormone level) is at a near 30. The higher the number, the less of the hormone you have.. Normally people shouldn't be above a 5.. I am terribly sorry for my shortcomings.. I will remedy this as quickly as possible."

Sure enough, he bumped up her medicine. But he did it verrrrry slowly. It was Hell for the boy's mother most of the time, she was always in bed, still.. The boy had to take care of himself and his brothers. The boy was beginning to feel that the Doctor really didn't care.. He hardly bumped up the medicine.. This had continued on for a very long time..

It was August, and after trying to take online school for his 10th grade year, the boy decided that he wanted to take public school. And so he did.

The first few weeks were awkward.. He didn't seem to really, honestly fit in in any classes...except for one. It was the only class that he had sheer excitement for when it was time to attend... Agricultural Power Technology.

While this was the only class that the boy felt like he really had a place in, that didn't mean that he was totally exiled in his other classes.. He had a few people in other classes that he could vent to. Of them all, however, the only one that the boy felt he could put his full trust into was his newly found friend Hunter. As the boy continued to acquaint himself with Hunter, he learned that they were very much alike. They liked a lot of the same things including games Halo and the Legend of Zelda to bands such as Maroon 5 and Coldplay. They also shared a very interesting, yet sad trait. They had lost their dads a couple years back.. While the boy's father was incarcerated, however, Hunter's father had actually passed away, and from how Hunter described him, he sounded almost exactly like his own father, and so he felt empathy for Hunter. Their friendship grew and flourished over the course of the school year from screwing around in Chemistry, to staying up all night playing Halo 4.

Hunter became depressed one day.. He explained to the boy that his Grandmother had died that day.. The boy was shocked, Hunter's grandmother had been an amazing woman. She was very kind, and super generous. The boy was very saddened to hear this.. And so he gave Hunter a big bear hug, and explained his sorrow to him.

Shortly after, Hunter spilled the beans on a secret that he rarely shared with anyone. He told the boy that he was a Brony. "Brony?" the boy thought, "so Hunter actually watches a show marketed for eight-year old girls?" The boy wasn't normally one to make fun of, but after learning this, he would playfully tease Hunter about this new-found info. At least.. Until he was at Hunter's house one night, bored to death.

"So," Hunter started, "what do you want to do?"

The boy thought of ideas. They had played several Halo games for the past long while and even watched some anime. Finally, after his curiosity broke through, the boy finally said, "Bah! Maybe you could show me what's so cool about this 'My Little Pony' show." And so Hunter did, and just as Hunter had expected, he broke the boy and welcomed him to the herd. The boy had become a Brony.

They continued to hang out and watch the show, along with doing other things.. The boy finally really felt like he had a true, inseparable friendship with Hunter. He had become a beacon in the boy's life. And then Hunter sporadically disappeared.

The boy was dumb-founded.. Once he had obtained his closest friend ever, he disappeared. Without a trace. The boy was in "Lingo" again.. And the school year was ending, too.. The boy cursed at God a couple of times before finally breaking down into a serious case of depression. He was days away from committing suicide when something totally unexpected happened.

The boy had just finished wiring yet another household circuit in his Ag Power Tech class when his Ag teacher, Mr. Godfrey, gave him a proposition.

"School's almost over, bud," his Ag teacher started, "do you know what that means for the Ag program?"

"FFA State Convention," the boy answered.

"Correct," Mr. Godfrey said with a smile, “and do you remember who won districts in Ag Electrical?"

The boy thought backwards several months. HE had. And he had won an awesome grinder for winning first place. The boy was catching on. Mr. Godfrey was asking him to come to state.

"But we can't afford the money, Mr. Godfrey.. While under normal circumstances $350 would be a bargain for spending a week in two different hotels, that's a fortune for us."

"I know," Mr. Godfrey said, "That's why I have a sponsor on hold who is willing to pay for every penny of the trip."

The boy didn't know what to say.. He had wanted ever so dearly to go to state, and he now actually had the chance.. He became teary eyed, at which point he hugged. Now sobbing, the boy managed to choke out a "Thank you" before releasing his instructor.

"I'll let the sponsor know," Mr. Godfrey said with a smile.

And so the boy started preparations.

The boy's mother was still not fairing well, but was doing a lot better. She approved, and even encouraged the boy to go on the trip. The boy spent the next while packing after school was finally out.

Monday, June 1st, 8:00AM, the boy was dropped off by his mother, and after a hug, kiss, and an "I love you", the boy packed his things on the bus.

And they were off.

The week was filled with fun and challenges. The boy was able to experience white water rafting half-way through their trip to Moscow Idaho. Once they reached destination, he was able to explore Boise University.

And then he had his competitions of which his main was Ag Mechanics. The boy, in the end, knew that he didn't do so well and his judgment was proven when he found out that he had taken 6th place at the awards ceremony. The day after that sad piece of news, the boy, along with all of the other Burley students, set back home.

"Hey, with more practice next year, I'm sure you'll pass the Ag Mechanics CDE," Mr. Godfrey said, obviously not enraged by the boy's short coming like he had expected. The boy, at the time, blew this off as just something to use to cheer him up.

The boy's summer was very uneventful to the point that it was depressing.. He longed for school to start, and was ever so joyous when it did start.

Finally taking what his Ag teacher had said, in a serious manner, the boy decided to take more Ag classes that would help him attain the knowledge that he needed to compete better in Ag Mechanics. The boy continued to excel. Even so, things still were not the same as when he had Hunter around. So the boy's progression through school was still long and gruesome.

The boy's only escapes from his sorrow were his music, his photoshop, and the show My Little Pony that he had still watched religiously after his friend's disappearance. Every day, the boy wished more and more to be in that universe.. His mother was starting to become more and more ill again, and the world around him was going to Hell.. Finally, one night, after finishing season three, again, the boy silently cried to himself.. Wishing that his mother was healed, that his dad was home, and his friend returned.. Being that it was 2:00AM, the boy decided to crawl into his bed and cry himself to sleep..

"Is there not ANYTHING positive to my life anymore?" he thought before he finally passed out in bed.

Little did he know that a candle burns brightest in the dark.

It was the end of the school year again. The boy had spent a lot of his time studying the engine that he would be troubleshooting at National Convention. All of the sudden, a depressing thought came to mind, "How are you going to pay for this, Man? Your family is already financially struggling as it is! You can't afford it!" The boy realized that this was a huge issue.. He later discussed that he wouldn't be able to go to national convention to none other than Mr. Godfrey. The sole teacher that, over time, became the boy's second father. After the boy explained that he couldn't come to State CDEs, Mr. Godfrey flat out asked, "Well why the Hell not, boy?" The boy describes the financial status of his family, and how they were suffering. Mr. Godfrey then after plainly said, "I've seen you practicing this year, son. You've worked your entire ass off during the course of this year. Despite all that you've been through, you've had the gumption to continue. So I've talked to the committee and, just like good old times, the whole thing is going to be paid for you!"

After all the Hell the boy had traveled through, he had finally found the candle shining in the dark. He finally had something to look forward to.

The boy explained all of this to his mother who was now back to being in bed 24/7. Despite her lack of energy, she became very proud and happy at this unexpected kindness that was given. She gave her son the permission to go to State yet one more time.

And so he packed.

The boy decided that he would just walk his luggage over to the school instead of having his mother drive him. He gave her one last hug and goodbye before leaving out the door. Half-way to his school, while dragging his luggage caddy, the boy suddenly thought that he shouldn't go... It was almost as if he had run into a wall, but he disregarded this as jitters and reached the Ag building yet one more time. After being greeted by Mr. Godfrey, his daughters, and everyone else who was coming to state, the boy packed his things into the car and he was off.

They were able to reach Moscow the same day, even after rafting, and they set up camp in the same hotel that they had last year. The week was as fun as he remembered, and when it came time to compete in the Ag Mechanics CDE, he finished it in half the time that was allotted to the contestants. He had faith that he had done everything correctly.. the next day was the awards ceremony "and that brings me back to today," the boy thought, now sitting back up in his chair in the Ballroom. The awards ceremony was nearing it's end. The boy had snapped out of his thinking session just in time, the Ag Mechanics awards were being announced next!

"In third place, from the Minico chapter," The FFA President started, "I congratulate Avery Write for her hard work!" After shaking the girl's hand, and handing her a plaque the boy wondered if he got second... "In second place, from the Rugby Chapter ("Great," the boy thought, "I made 6th again..) I congratulate Aron Bryer!" Another applause, shaking of hands, and the handing of a plaque. Finally, after a long pause, "And in first place, we have a boy who did Exceptionally well, from the Burley chapter ("Wait a second," the boy thought, "I'm the only person from Burley to) I would like to congratulate... ANDREW TIBBETS!!!"

Andrew's heart skipped a beat. Did he really just hear the President right? Apparently he did. Everyone in his chapter stood up when the applause rose.. Still in shock, the boy walked up to the stage and shook the President's hand. "Congratulations, Andrew," The President said as he handed the boy a plaque.

Everything up until the bus ride home was a blur.. The boy was still in shock.. Finally, after he and everyone else were on the bus, Mr. Godfrey gave Andrew one finally congratulations, and proceeded to tell the boy how he knew that he would win.

What once felt like a never ending Hell, Andrew finally found that his life was turning for the better.

Or so he thought.

After the eight hour bus ride, everyone finally reached the Ag building. Knowing that Andrew had walked to the building by foot, Mr. Godfrey offered to drive Andrew home. When they reached his house, Andrew's jaw almost hit the ground.. His house was surrounded by cop cars.. Along with an ambulance.. Just then, two broad men carried a stretcher out the garage.. In it.. Was Andrew's mother..

And so, Andrew's life reverted back to it's lowly, dark state..

His mother had died..


><><


As soon as Luna watched this transpire, she immediately recognized the signs within Andrew. While he attended the funeral of the female, she went back into her reality by working her way quickly back through the layers of dreams. First ending up back in Hunter's dreams, and then back into the strange room with the contraptions. The blue princess walked into the bedroom and settled into the bed. As soon as her head hit the pillow she was awake on the cloud, looking down at the couple. As Luna had watched Andrew's life, no time had passed, and she had to get to work quickly. The princess of the night flew off towards Ponyville to get the one pony she knew she could rely on, on such short notice.


><><


"I.. didn't even get a chance to say good.. bye.." he thought to himself at the funeral.. The funeral was longer than he expected.. A lot of people went up to talk bout how they loved his mom.. He could hardly pay attention though, let alone think, and so he only understood a couple of words from the whole thing.. And then, once again, he moved to a new house. His uncle's house just outside of Burley.

Life became a blur. He felt betrayed by God, by his mother, and by everyone. He still ached for his mom to come through the front door. But she never did. Andrew began to stop eating. To stop creating art. And he even stopped watching My Little Pony, enraged at how life seemed so perfect in that damned show.

Finally, one night, the boy had had enough. He did not want to live anymore.. He wanted so dearly to be with his mom.. "Just think," he thought, "maybe I'll see Hunter too." Without thinking, the boy crept out of his bed, and quietly walked downstairs to the storage room, finally facing his uncle's gun cabinet.

"Dammit Brian, you shouldn't have trusted me enough to give me the combination to your gun safe," he said quietly as he did the combination..

The safe clicked open.

The boy looked at what he had to work with, and finally picked a revolver that appeared to be loaded.

He was scared.. How much would it hurt? How LONG would it hurt? "Bah. It doesn't matter. If anything, I'll go unconscious then die."

And so the boy cocked the gun, and aimed it straight into his ear. Andrew had pulled the trigger half way when he heard a remark that sounded like it came from a girl..

"You know, I once picked up a human like you. He taught me what that shiny thing is, and I'm pretty sure that you're not supposed to point it at your head.."

Startled, the boy lowered the gun and turned around only to, once again, almost have his jaw hit the ground. The boy rubbed his eyes hoping that that would make sense of things. Nope... He was STILL staring at a purple unicorn..

Andrew started, "Twilight"...."Sparkle," the unicorn finished, "I had a feeling that you'd know who I am."

"Now wait a second, you said that you've picked up ANOTHER human?" Andrew's eyes lit up, "Would he happen to be"......"All in due time," Twilight winked. "In the mean time, I'm here to rescue you. Now I know that you'll want to say your goodbyes, so"--"No." Andrew interrupted, "I want to get out of here as soon as possible. The best part? I haven't unpacked my things yet. They're in a box over there." The boy pointed to some boxes filled with clothing, another with various trinkets, and the final box that had Twilight slightly confused which had, in big letters, "iMac" printed on it.

"That right there is my pride and joy," Andrew started, as if sensing Twilight's confusion. That right there is my computer. My iMac." "Your computer fits in THAT?" Twilight thought as she remembered her big computer back home. "It sure does! And it's a thing of beauty, too! After all, it IS an Apple computer!"

"As in the fruit?" Twilight Sparkle asked, obviously confused again.

Andrew  Hah.. No. Actually, there's a computer company on Earth called Apple Incorporated, and this is one of the company's fine pieces of work", he said, pointing to the computer box.

"Well. This makes my job easy," Twilight sighed. "So all of this is what you have?"

"Indeed." Andrew answered.

"No goodbyes to anyone?" she asked with a slight hint of sadness.

"No, I just want to get out of here." Andrew said coldly, but then he asked in a happier tone, "So you're really going to take me to.. Equestria?"

"I sure am," Twilight answered. "Ready to go then?"

"Twilight, I have been ready to go since yesterday." Andrew said with a faint smile.

"Alright then, pull your stuff near us so that I don't accidentally zap any of these other items with us." Twilight said.

Andrew did as Twilight said. Moments before vanishing from earth, the boy thanked God for pulling him through and for giving him the strength.

It was time to go, and Andrew vanished with Twilight from the face of Earth.


><><


Twilight reappeared in the room of the castle, the warm moonlight once more penetrating the room through the hole in the ceiling. Andrew had passed out just as everyone did, and was asleep on the floor. Luna had prepared this time, and slowly worked a pillow under the stallion’s head.

“Well that was a close one this time.” Twilight said, her eyes drifting to Andrew on the floor. “He already had one of those…” Twilight searched for the name of the device Michael carried, “Guns, up against his head.” She said, remembering.

“It is not always this way.” Luna said somberly, “But it like this more than it is not.”

“What a world they must live in.” Twilight said. Making a vow in her mind that if she should ever be presented with the opportunity for any reason she would not want to switch worlds.

“What a world indeed. Well let’s prepare to welcome him here shall we? This one turned out to be an Earth pony so why don’t we just ask him what he’d like to do rather than assuming. It might make the transfer between lifestyles much easier.” Luna explained, moving some glasses of water from a shelf on a nearby wall for the pair to sip on while they waited for their newest arrival to gain consciousness. 

Speaking of, their new arrival was quite the interesting one. The earth pony in front of them lay on his side, the right side of his face making contact with the pillow and his legs out in front of him. Andrew was predominantly white, but the mane and tail that stuck off of him were clashing orange and blue. The pattern made you think of a blue wall with an orange line of spray paint randomly down the middle of his hair, which flowed down over his head in a tidy layer of straight hair, and fell down the back of his head and draped over his shoulder towards his legs. The stallion’s tail was short and almost circular, moving up and out from his back before coming straight down and back towards him like a short hook. It almost looked sharp.

Luna and Twilight talked lightly about the things Luna knew of the human world, mostly trying to find something good to talk about. Luna spoke highly of those that praised her in that world, creating likenesses of her out of fabric and cotton. She told Twilight how she herself and many of her friends were also respected in this world, and if she were to enter it, she would most likely receive much praise. Twilight still didn’t feel like going would be the best decision. The purple unicorn knew what celebrity life was like, praise quickly turned into… Obsession.

The stallion in front of them stirred, lifting his leg in front of him like one would their arm after falling over and attempting to get up. His leg quivered slightly and then slid back to where it had been. A small moan emanated from him and his head looked like it was going to move face first into the pillow but his muzzle prevented it. Andrew lifted his new found nose and stuffed it into the pillow. It looked slightly awkward however because his head was now sticking out of the pillow like a stump. The now slightly conscious Andrew lifted his head in confusion, staring at the pillow with an absent expression; which quickly turned to one of realization and he scrambled to get to his feet. Which did not go as he expected, he expected to push off of his arms and bring his legs forward to stand up on, but instead when he pushed up on his front legs he reared and didn’t stay up for long. The white stallion pushed a little hard however, and ended up on his back. Luna held back a laugh and Twilight gasped in shock. Luna used her magic to correct the flailing pony, and set him gingerly on the ground in front of them. Andrew stopped flailing long enough for his legs to connect properly to the ground. Although he seemed to assume that his front legs were going to end up shorter than his back legs, ending with him in a strange crouch that almost looked like a bow. Soon enough though, Andrew remedied his mistake and stretched his legs to full length, standing tall. Twilight regarded him with a cautious wonder, as if she were a mother watching a child get up to walk after just falling. Andrew stood, a mix of amazement and tears on his face. 

“What’s wrong?” Twilight asked. moving a hoof forward to console him, but thinking better of it, she left her hoof hovering in midair. 

“I just…” Andrew choked, “I’m here, I’m here and its real. I’m here and it wasn’t because I died and went to heaven.” Andrew wiped the tears from his eyes, clumsily moving his leg across his face hoping that it would enter the crevices of his sockets, but it only served to smear the liquid into the fur of his face. 

“I’m here! I’m here and it’s real!” Andrew cried loudly, laughing so his tears fell from his face in waves.

Twilight’s face went from compassion to confusion. Luna grinned boldly and waited patiently for Andrew’s sudden display of emotion to subside. Andrew soon stopped his laughing, mixing sniffles with a chuckle. Twilight then thought it safe to approach the stallion. 

“Andrew?” Twilight asked.

“Yes?” Andrew asked, his head popping up to look at her as if at attention.

Twilight was taken aback by his sudden switch from near hysteria to a calm, collected, state. It wasn’t a full transformation, seeing as how his tears still stained his face. 

“Are you alright?” Twilight asked again.

“I’m fine, better, much better, now. Thank you.” Andrew said simply, pausing after each word or so in an odd stutter. 

“Andrew,” Luna said suddenly, “I am glad that we were able to keep you from the end. It is a sad day when someone decides that their life is not worth living. It pains me to know that you had made this decision, but I have to know, what is your decision now?” 

Now it was Andrew’s turn to see surprised, as if his answer was obvious, he laughed a little before answering, “You’d think I’d kill myself now? After my dreams have come true?”

“The decision to end a life is not to be taken likely Andrew.” Luna said sternly, “The amount of stress it takes to force somepony to that decision does not go away. You must answer honestly, do you still have feelings of despair, hopelessness, the wish for it all to end, you have to answer honestly!”

Andrew took a step backwards, and Twilight looked uneasy. This had come almost out of nowhere. Andrew took a second to get over the shock of what happened before seriously considering her question. Andrew of course thought his answer to be no, that he was sure he felt fine, but Luna’s sudden outburst made him question himself. His mom was dead, that much was still true no matter what far off universe or land he went to. He had left his brothers practically alone aside from their father coming home in a year or so. He had a sudden pang of guilt rise up inside him. How could he just leave? Anything he had created or been a part of in his previous life had been thrown out the window the moment he decided to throw himself out it. The guilt subsided however, who exactly said he really had anything at all? His brothers had their future but what exactly had he built for his future?  Living off of his uncle until his father came home and then living off him until he got a job as a mechanic in a small town? Who exactly said he had to stay there and take care of everyone himself? Who was to say that he didn’t deserve this? His guilt was replaced by a sudden flare of vengeance. The world had screwed him over, he had been betrayed at every turn. He left that world without hesitation and with good reason. Guilt and grief he could deal with, but he had a sense that this feeling of betrayal wouldn’t leave him anytime soon.  

“I’m fine Luna.” Andrew said, “I’ll get over it, but I’m not going to kill myself. I promise.”

“I believe you.” Luna said softly.

There was a sudden awkward silence, and Twilight shifted her feet a little before commenting, “Alright, now that that’s over, what are we going to do with Andrew here?”

“That all depends on what Andrew wants.” Luna said.

“What I want?” Andrew exclaimed, “I thought you would take care of all that, you’re the one that brought me here.”

“Usually I do.” Luna said, turning to face the balcony. “I spread those like you all over this land, I took what I knew about them and their skills and their interests and I placed them where I thought they would be, not only the most useful, but the happiest. I can no longer do this. It is not right to bring these people into their dream world and then move them into yet another cycle much like their own. Most humans I bring here are merely doing the same thing they were doing in their own world, but they’re just doing it here instead. They get jobs and meet ponies and raise families. They have bad times to weigh down the good and make them seem better, just as things were in your world. So now I must ask you. I must take your opinion into account rather than deciding your fate, just as it was decided in your world; by something else.” Luna turned back to look Andrew in the eyes.

“What do you want?”

Andrew sat down. This was a lot to take in. He could do anything he wanted. There were so many options, he could live in the capital, he could live in a city, he could… live in ponyville.

“I want to live in Ponyville.” Andrew said.

“That’s just popular isn’t it?” Luna asked Twilight.

“It’s the best city in equestria!” Twilight said happily, giggling.

“Well that was quick. However, there was a recent addition to the population of Ponyville. Twilight has had plenty of experience with this particular Pony.” Luna said.

Twilight’s eyes dropped to the floor for a second, and then Twilight remembered who she was with and looked back up. Andrew picked up on this. What had this particular pony done to be attributed with such a reaction. Whatever it was it seemed either bad or personal. Either way, he thought he may have to give them a piece of his mind.

“I suppose.” Twilight said, “Where are we going to put Andrew then?” Twilight added, changing the subject.

“Well its going to be in Ponyville that’s for sure, but considering that I just had a house built there, it would be somewhat suspicious if the castle construction company were to start building prime real estate all over town.” Luna said.

“I could, probably, make something, ya know, of my own.” Andrew said.

“Well we could have a ponyville crew make it.” Twilight said, ignoring Andrew.

“That would work, but that’s still a sudden influx of construction.” Luna added.

“I know a bit about this kind of thing, I could probably take care of myself.” Andrew said a little louder.

“I don’t think anyone will notice if we built the last one out of town.” Twilight said, “This one would be the first anyone would pass by frequently, or at least once in a while.”

“You think nopony noticed the construction of the cloud house?” Luna asked.

“No, I think it was out of town far enough that nopony really took notice.” Twilight responded.

“Guys!” Andrew interrupted.

The two looked suddenly at Andrew, ears perked up and eyes wide. 

Andrew had to pause to let keep his heart from exploding. 

“Oh um. Its just that I was saying… uhm. I can build stuff.” Andrew said.

The two across from him paused and looked at each other for a moment before looking back at Andrew and saying in unison “What did you have in mind?” 

Andrew burst into laughter. The princess and Twilight looked back at each other and shrugged. As soon as Andrew was done laughing at the two’s peculiarity he spoke up.

“Sorry its just… nothing. As I was saying, I have a little bit of knowledge in the ways of construction. I could probably build something of my own.”

“How much exactly do you know about building? Is it your cutie mark?” Twilight asked.

Andrew hadn’t even looked. He looked down at his rear to inspect what his cutie mark might be. It matched his color scheme, seeing as how it was blue and orange. It was a short line that sloped downward into another line. In the spaces where the blue middle line wasn’t, two orange lines filled in and made it look like it fit into a square.





“Well that doesn’t help at all.” Andrew said. “It doesn’t look like anything really.”

“Well mine is nothing but stars.” Twilight said. “But it also means a kind of mysticism. Like magic.”

“So mine could mean anything is what you’re saying.” Andrew asked.

“There are very few who gain the opportunity to choose their fate,” Luna said, “But those who do in my experience end up choosing wisely, and are great at what they do.”

“Well thanks for the words of wisdom, but I don’t think that helps really.” Andrew said.

“Pardon me. I get poetic.” Luna said shyly. 
“Well, usually cutie marks are based off of what Ponies like most or do best, or both.” Twilight said factually. “So what do you like to do best?”

“Well like I said, I know a little bit about construction. Really I just like working with my hands, usually that involves machines but you don’t exactly have the machines I’m usually used to working with.” Andrew told them, now looking at his hooves.

“Well if I remember correctly there was this small place on the outskirts of town. It used to be owned by an older earth pony who built it himself. It’s probably as old as Granny Smith, but I’m not even sure if its still there or not. I remember Mayor Mare once talking about having it removed. We could take a look at it, and then at least you wouldn’t have to start from scratch.” Twilight said.

“If it is as old as you say, it may end up being better if I did start from scratch.” Andrew said.

“I don’t think so. The stallion kept good care of it as I recall.” Luna added.

“How would you know?” Twilight asked.

“The apple family were the original inhabitants of that area. The orchard of Ponyville was passed to Granny Smith from her father. However, Granny had a brother who eventually found he had more of a liking for oranges than apples. The original Mr. Orange built his own house in the area that now makes up Ponyville, far from where the Apple family orchard now resides. When he finally hit it big enough with his oranges to move to the city, he kept it as a small vacation home. When the city of Ponyville grew large enough, and the tensions between Orange and Apple strong enough, he eventually sold the property to the town. If I remember correctly that is, I’ve been reading up to find out what I’ve been missing out on for 1000 years.” Luna said.

“So I’m getting the old vacation home of a rich family?” Andrew asked, “I might not have to do anything.”

“The city hasn’t touched it since they bought it, they were hoping someone else would buy the property and work on it themselves. Not exactly prime real estate.” Twilight said.

“I guess we’ll just have to see what happens then.” Andrew said with a sigh.

“Well then, is that your final answer? You want to just take a chance with this house? What if you can’t fix it right away? What will you do for shelter?” Twilight asked.

“In the time it takes Andrew to build it, if he should say that it is beyond his abilities, we will either have our construction crew fix it for him, or we will relocate him somewhere else. In the meantime, he will have to either live with someone else, or hopefully part of the house is still habitable.”

“Who would I live with if it isn’t habitable?” Andrew asked. He didn’t want any chances to be taken.

“There are plenty of choices, but we will choose them later. For now we must load your things and get them to Ponyville” Luna said, opening the large doors on the other side of the room with her magic, revealing a unicorn and a large crate.

“Oh cool, I guess we better get going, are we to take the train again?” Twilight asked.

“Of course.” Luna said.

“I can’t wait to see it.” Andrew said, lifting his front arms to move towards the crate. He ended up doing an awkward kind of shamble that resembled the moving of a bear. After a few successful steps forwards however, his back legs caught his front legs and he fell on his chin, his rump sticking straight up in the air.

“Shoot. I was doing so well too.” Andrew complained.

“I wouldn’t exactly call that doing well, that was moving, but it wasn’t walking, that’s for sure.” Twilight said.

Andrew moved his front legs forward again to pick himself up, and stood tall again, rubbing his chin gingerly before looking intently down at his feet.

“I could teach you if you like.” Twilight offered.

“Ya know, usually I would say I can handle it on my own, but I think I would much rather not embarrass myself.” Andrew said with a grin.

“Alright let me teach you.” Twilight said, moving up alongside him while Luna and the unicorn loaded Andrew’s things into the large crate. 

The ponies of Canterlot slept soundly through the arrival of yet another human into their world. Andrew’s trip home would not be interrupted by any passersby.


><><


Andrew fell a plethora of times between the castle and the train, but by the time he left the train from the Ponyville station, he had achieved a fair walking pace. Luna and the Unicorn lifted the box from the train’s cargo car and carried it together down the road towards town. Twilight walked alongside Andrew as he took in the sights. Andrew looked at everything around him with a tender reverence, trying to take it all in and walking slowly so he could get a good look at everything and making sure not to trip again. Twilight had to push him to make him go faster. Celestia had started raising the sun, and light could be seen reaching over and around the mountaintops on the east side of town. Andrew followed closely behind Luna now that Twilight had insisted that he keep up. They walked around the outskirts of town, passing the path that would be taken if one were to walk to Rarity’s Boutique and eventually to Rainbow Dash and Hunter’s houses. they continued on and then took a left into the field of sparsely spread trees, and after a good ten minutes of walking, during which Andrew only stumbled once, catching himself before he fell, they could see a wooden structure in the clearing. They walked for another couple of minutes before they reached the front of the house.


In front of them was a structure made entirely of wood, and with a wooden roof uncharacteristic to the cottages of Ponyville. It leaned to the left and the right side of the roof had a gap in it. The front steps were warped and one of the planks was missing, resulting in a gap that was liable to hurt somepony. The steps led up to a small patio with a short fence like border around it. A lattice pattern of wood covered the gap between the bottom of the patio and the ground was completely gone aside from one last section directly underneath the stairs. Twilight could see the outline of yellow eyes belonging to some pest staring at her from below the patio. The front door seemed to still function aside from the peeling of white paint that covered the entirety of the outside of the house. The glass of the windows was demolished in every window except one, the one that let light into the attic. The house was wide with a slight lean, and the peak of the house was a gentle slope on either side. A simple wooden rocking chair squeaked menacingly from the patio, giving warning to all who entered.

Andrew thought he had his work cut out for him, and they hadn’t even gone inside yet. 

“Looks absolutely perfect. Sure its a bit of a fixer upper, but that’s what you wanted wasn’t it?” Luna asked.

“Yeah.” Andrew said, “Just what I wanted.”

The white stallion had always thought that the idea of building his own house, or maybe even fixing one up would be a fun project, but now that he was presented with the opportunity to do so, now that he had to fix it quickly so that he could live in it, he wasn’t exactly ecstatic.  

“Well this place obviously isn’t habitable, not to human standards at least, where do you suggest I stay?” Andrew asked.

“I would prefer my library be a last resort in this instance. I already have enough trouble going on with the last human.” Twilight sighed.

“That reminds me! You said there were others that you’ve spread across the land?” Andrew asked.

“Indeed there are. The most recent moved here together, and you can actually see the top of their house from here.” Luna said, pointing off in the distance.

“I can see the top of what I think is the boutique…” Andrew said, squinting.

“No, you’re looking too far left, the boutique isn’t really blocked by trees. You gotta look to the right where the trees are denser.” Twilight said.

Andrew shifted his gaze to the right some, and over the tops of the dark green trees the light of the sun was just barely illuminating the sky; some clouds peaked the canopy like the top of a castle might. Two cloud peaks actually showed over the treetops. 

“Isn’t that Rainbow Dash’s house?” Andrew asked, “Did she upgrade it to a cloud castle or something.” Andrew asked.

“No, someone wanted a house like hers and had it built next door.” Twilight said.

“Interesting. So that’s the previous human is it?” Andrew asked.

“Yes. Normally we don’t tell humans much about the others that live here, but I have a feeling that you’re going to be meeting this one no matter what you do.” Luna said.

“And why is that?” Andrew asked.

“Well, how far exactly do you think that those houses are from here?” Luna asked.

“I’m into building and fixing stuff, not distance mapping.” Andrew said.

“I wasn’t asking for specifics.” Luna said, “would you say that’s much of a… what do the subjects call it? oh, a commute.” 

“I suppose not, a little bit of a walk, but that's nothing compared to the work I'm going to have to do on this house.” Andrew said, sizing up the house with his eyes.

“Well despite my having done it before, I feel I should room you with him.” Luna said.

Twilight perked up, “are you sure that’s wise?”

“Yes, I’m sure.” Luna said, giving Twilight a short glare while Andrew stared at the house.

Andrew sensed the small amount of tension in Luna’s voice and glanced over at the two, and he noticed as his ears perked up. 

“So I’m to be living with another human made pony then?” Andrew asked.

“Yes, but hes not exactly in right now.” Luna said.

“Then what am I supposed to do now?” Andrew asked. If he wasn’t going to move right in, then what was he going to do with all of his things? Andrew looked back at where the box containing all of his things sat sticking out of the grass like a refined stump. The unicorn that had helped escort his things was gone.

“Hey where’d that one guy go?” Andrew asked, spinning around to look for the unicorn that was just here.

“My helper went back to the castle as soon as we got here. It matters not, we will move your things to the cloud house immediately.” Luna said, lifting the box with her magic alone. Then she walked away from the clearing and directly towards the cloud house.

Twilight and Andrew had to take a second before they realized that they were supposed to be following her.

><><

Hunter awoke to Dash’s shifting on the cloud, she had snuggled closer to him, and at this point his arm was laying over her neck and her hair was in his face a little bit. He shifted his face, trying desperately to remove her hair from his face without waking her, but it stuck to him like plastic wrap on itself. Hunter decided instead to move the arm that was underneath Dash through the clouds and moved it up to move it from his face manually. After doing that he moved slowly and removed himself from the entanglement. Eventually, Dash was alone on the cloud, and didn’t complain other than a moan and a roll onto her other side. As adorable as that was, he thought he should probably get back into his house. The sun was barely peeking over the sun, the forest was as green as ever, he was really tired, and Luna was walking towards his house with a large crate. The gray pegasus flapped his wings slowly, gently following the breeze towards his…. Wait what?

“What is Luna doing with that crate, that looks exactly like the one that my stuff was moved in. nonononononononono this isn’t good,” Hunter said, flying quickly towards the princess instead. As soon as he was past his house and not in fear of waking Dash he yelled, “Luna! What are you doing!?”

He could see as Luna’s head perked up to address him and she stopped for a friendly wave. As he approached he hoped that this didn’t mean what he thought it meant. It didn’t take long before he was on the ground in front of the blue princess trotting quickly since he didn’t bother slowing down during flight.
“What are you doing?” Hunter asked.

“Oh hello,” Luna said, ignoring his question, “Nice of you to come out to greet us, I assumed we would have to leave you a note.”

“Leave me a note for what? Are you planning to spring something on me again?” Hunter said, looking over her shoulder at the large box, “And from the looks of it, you’re planning to spring someone on me.” Hunter said gruffly.

“Oh don’t be such a spoil ball…”

“Spoilsport.” Hunter corrected.

“Right that, don’t be such a spoilsport Hunter, I merely need a place for him to sleep and a roof over him. He won’t be staying there all that often, he will be working on fixing up his own house down that way.” Luna said, pointing in the direction they’d just come from.

“You mean that eyesore that somehow holds itself up in the clearing a ways down?” Hunter asked.

“Oh good you know of it.” Luna said.

Andrew sighed. Somewhere deep down he was hoping that nobody had really known it was there.

“Yes I know of it.” Hunter said, “The point is, why does this whoever have to stay with me while he fixes it? Looking at that house, it might be better if they started from scratch. Why don’t you just build it for this guy like you did me?”

Luna moved forward and towered over Hunter, and in her royal canterlot voice said, “Are you going to help us or not?!”

Hunter was forced to sit down or fall over, so he sat down. The gray stallion rubbed his left ear with a hoof. “Alright yes, I’ll help.”

Luna took a couple steps back, “Thank you.”

“Just please don’t make a habit of taking advantage of my hospitality. I’m not a homeless shelter. Why can’t Twilight house them?” Hunter asked.

“Your house is the closest. If it weren’t so, I guarantee I would have him live somewhere else.” Luna said.

“How fortunate.” Hunter said, his ears still ringing slightly. “So who am I supposed to be housing anyhow?”

“Oh of course.” Luna said, turning to the side to allow a line of sight between Andrew and Hunter.

“This is Andrew.” 

Hunter’s eyes went wide for a second.
“Its nice to meet you sir,” Andrew said, “Thanks for letting me stay with you, despite the inconvenience.” 

“Its no inconvenience at all. Just so long as you keep working on that house you’re plenty free to stay.” Hunter said, his eyes live slits now as he studied Andrew. Could it be?

“Well then lets move his things in shall we?” Twilight said. “It was awfully early when you picked me up Luna and I should get going. I might just take a nap.”

Hunter didn’t turn his attention to Twilight for a moment. Luna took off to fly up to Hunter’s porch; the box following closely behind. Twilight walked closer to the house before teleporting herself up to the porch.

“Would you like me to give you a lift up there? I have a couple non-pegasi staying with me anyways, so I’m used to it.” Hunter said, offering a hoof to grab onto.

“Are you sure that’s okay? I could probably ask Luna to do it.” Andrew said.

Wow this really could be him. “No its fine, just get on my back for 5 seconds, don’t worry about it.” Hunter said, turning around.

Andrew moved closer to him and draped himself over Hunter’s back like a saddle bag.

“Alright I guess that works for now.” Hunter said, taking off and landing on the porch.

Andrew quickly disembarked, not wanting to stay in that position for longer than was necessary. Although the only other option was clouds that his mind told him he would fall through, he had to get off the alicorn. Which he just realized. His face was one of horror as he slid off of Hunter’s back, partly because of the fear of falling through the clouds and partly because of the fact that he may have just ridden awkwardly on the back of royalty. It would be like riding Luna like that.

Andrew collided with the clouds as if they were the ground and he took a few seconds to test them out, stepping and jumping up and down.

“Yes you are standing on clouds.” Hunter said, “The pegasi made some that are available for everypony, not just the pegasi.”

“That’s awesome.” Andrew said. “Guess I had better get inside.”

Hunter walked through the open door of his house and suddenly realized that he should have cleaned a little. It wasn’t as if he had any warning, but something told him he should have just been prepared for company. Andrew walked in behind him and didn’t even notice the mess, he was looking around at the architecture. 

“Pardon the mess.” Hunter said, watching as Luna and Twilight unloaded the box and set things in the middle of the living room between the couch and the dining table. “I didn’t really have much of a warning.”

“I don’t mind.” Andrew said, “My house was always a bit cluttered as well.”

“Oh yeah?” Hunter asked. “With what?” 
“Oh just stuff that we’d keep around until it sold online.” Andrew said simply, paying more attention to a nearby cloud beam than the conversation.

Well all evidence pointed to it being who he thought it was, but he had to be sure.

“Well I thought this house had another room. Let me check.” Hunter said. Previously he had just let ponies stay on the couch in his living room, but Andrew was probably going to be staying a little longer, and there was the possibility of there being another bedroom. The top floor had the bathroom overtop the back of the living room, and his room was set into the wall opposite that, but there was a large space that would sit atop the washing room and Michael’s bedroom, and it would seem a waste if this was just the outside of the house. Hunter climbed briskly up the stairs and stuck his hoof in the wall that faced him as he reached the top. He pulled and it opened as if on a hinge, but instead of seeing the sun or the outside, it actually opened into a simple bedroom. It was the same size as his and Michael’s bedrooms, and it had a window in it just like theirs did.

“I found it!” Hunter yelled down, “Some pony forgot to put a frame up.” 

Luna sighed and made a mental note to talk to the castle construction company. Twilight unloaded the last box from the crate and Luna cast a spell, making the box disappear. 

“Alright, this is where I leave you. If you need anything, feel free to find Twilight, and if you need anything from me, ask Twilight to contact me.” Luna said, and then disappeared as quickly as the box did.

“I supposed I had better get out of here. It was nice meeting you Andrew, find me if you need anything.” Twilight said, walking to the door.

“It was nice meeting you too Twilight. Thank you.” Andrew said.

“Oh, one more thing,” Twilight said as she opened the door.

“What?” 

“Good luck.” Twilight said, and closed the door behind her.

Andrew assumed this meant good luck on the house, but Twilight was aiming more towards good luck with your roommate. 

“Well, we can get your things up there later today. For now I was thinking I would get a little shuteye. There’s already a bed in your room upstairs, feel free to use it, you must be exhausted.” Hunter said. 

“Actually I am a little bit. I was kinda hoping I would get to know my roommate before staying here though.” Andrew said, moving over to the couch, “Mind if I sit?” 

“Not at all.” Hunter said, taking a seat himself. “You know, you’re the one moving into my house, why don’t you tell me about yourself?”

Andrew agreed, and started to tell Hunter all about his life just previous to getting here. It covered everything that Luna had watched, and Hunter recognized most of it. There was no doubt that this was his friend Andrew.

“So this Hunter,” Hunter said, “he just disappeared?”

“Yeah he did.” Andrew said, “I assumed the worst. His mother wouldn’t tell anyone what had happened.”

“How is she?” Hunter asked.

“Who, Hunter’s mother?” Andrew asked, “What do you care?”

Hunter realized what he had said and tried to recover, “I uh, no reason, I just wondered because you said her son disappeared so ya know.”

Nailed it.

“She wasn’t doing the best last time I saw her, but I’m sure she’s doing fine.” Andrew said. “Well now you know all about me, what about you? Luna tells me that you’re a human made pony as well.”

“That’s right. Well, I used to live in a small farm town, I didn’t really have much going for me, just a few friends and my video games. Then one night Twilight came to pick me up.”

“What video games?” Andrew asked.

“I still have my xbox” Hunter said, “you can look at the game selection over there.” Hunter pointed across the living room to the T.V. and Xbox sitting near it. Andrew got up and walked over, pulling the games eagerly from the shelf but dropping them as he didn’t quite have the ability to hold things proficiently yet. 

“Hey, careful with those please.” Hunter said.

“Sorry.” Andrew said, moving the cases around on the floor so that he could look at them all easily. The white stallion glanced up at the T.V. again, realizing that it looked familiar. Andrew then looked at the Xbox. It was the same limited edition Halo: Reach xbox that Hunter had. Andrew looked quickly back down at the games. Every single one of these were games that Hunter owned, and there wasn’t one there that he hadn’t had. Andrew looked back at Hunter, who had slowly gotten a wide grin on his face.

“Its you isn’t it.” Andrew said, his voice quivering.

“And who is you?” Hunter asked, trying to keep back a laugh.

“You’re Hunter, it’s you isn’t it, Hunter?” Andrew asked.

Hunter laughed whole heartedly before saying, “Now you’re thinking with portals.”